There are many electrical and electronic devices in the home and office which have some kind of user interface for controlling their operation. These include office equipment, audio and video equipment, kitchen appliances, heating and cooling systems, etc. Even light sockets have on/off switches and sometimes dimmers, and in many countries power outlets have on/off switches.
Office equipment and entertainment equipment is increasingly networkable—i.e. devices come with interfaces to standard local-area networks, allowing their operation to be controlled over a network. The advent of standard wireless networking technologies such as Bluetooth may see an increase in networking support in such devices and appliances.
Some networking futurists predict that even light sockets will one day be networked, allowing their status to be queried and their function to be controlled remotely.
Even today, an increasing number of devices can be controlled via infrared remote control interfaces. Such interfaces are particularly prevalent on audio and video equipment and heating and cooling systems.